The ACT wants 26,000 new homes built in the next five years. Here's what that looks like

The ACT government wants 26,000 new homes built in the next five years. Here's how it plans to do that Tue 9 Jun 2026 at 5:47pm The ACT government is promising to deliver nearly 26,000 new homes across Canberra over the next five years. The latest Housing Supply and Land Release Program — released as part of tomorrow's ACT budget — includes plans for nearly 4,300 new homes this financial year. The government says the extra homes will help meet the capital's growing housing needs, with the population expected to reach 700,000 by 2050. It's all part of the governments plan to "enable" 30,000 new homes by the end of 2030. But what are these 26,000 homes going to look like, and where are they going to be built? Units or detached dwellings? Just 11 per cent (2,885) of the 25,794 homes planned over the next five years will be standalone properties, with the rest multi-unit dwellings. This financial year, 182 of the 4,293 homes planned will be standalone dwellings, and they'll all be within the Ginninderry development in west Belconnen. Here's the number of single and multi-unit dwellings planned for each district during this first year, and over the five-year program: DISTRICT | SINGLE HOMES 2026-27 | SINGLE HOMES 2026-31 | MULTI-UNITS 2026-27 | MULTI-UNITS 2026-31 | TOTAL DWELLINGS | |---|---|---|---|---|---| Belconnen | 182 | 1,200 | 218 | 2,108 | 3,308 | Gungahlin | -- | 758 | 925 | 3,225 | 3,983 | Inner North/City | -- | -- | 1,300 | 2,282 | 2,282 | Inner South | -- | -- | -- | 2,400 | 2,400 | Molonglo Valley | -- | 707 | 614 | 6,336 | 7,043 | Tuggeranong | -- | -- | 254 | 993 | 993 | Weston Creek | -- | -- | -- | 850 | 850 | Woden Valley | -- | -- | 800 | 4,200 | 4,200 | East Canberra | -- | 4 | -- | 11 | 15 | ACT Housing Minister Yvette Berry acknowledged 26,000 homes was an "ambitious target" but one she believed was "achievable". "It's a reasonable approach to making sure that we have housing all across the ACT, including targeting homes for people who need them most,"she said. "Importantly, the program also reserves 15 per cent of suitable residential land releases [in 2026-27] for public, community and affordable housing, which is targeted to deliver nearly 300 of these new homes at sites across Canberra." Is there enough choice? The limited number of standalone dwellings in the government's plan has been criticised by Master Builders ACT CEO Anna Neelagama. "This indicative program has consistently failed to reflect reality and cannot be relied upon," she said. "In the first year ... there are only 182 single dwelling homes planned for release for the whole of the ACT. "The question must be asked: does this program signal the beginning of the end of the great Australian dream in the ACT and the ability to own your own block of land and a standalone home?" CEO of the Real Estate Institute ACT, Maria Edwards, also warned that there's "not enough diversity in what's being approved". "There's a lot of talk about building one-bedroom units as sort of a solution to the supply problem in the ACT, but we already have a lot of one-bedroom units," she said. "So if we can get bigger two-bedroom apartments, three-bedroom apartments and townhouses, that would be a great solution. "I think the most important thing is that that there is a real adequate mixture of homes that are being built in these newer suburbs, and that there is choice for people." Meeting the 30,000 target Some of the new homes announced today will be built on government-released greenfield sites — or previously undeveloped land — around the Molonglo town centre and Macnamara in Belconnen. But most of the new homes will be built within Canberra's existing urban footprint, under changes to planning laws designed to encourage infill. Ms Berry emphasised that "greenfield land in the ACT was finite" and said the government was "looking at every opportunity" to meet its 30,000 homes target. Alongside the Housing Supply and Land Release Program, the ACT government has already proposed changes to the Territory Plan to allow all ACT residential blocks to be developed into townhouses, terraces, or low-rise apartments. They've been dubbed 'missing middle' homes — in between large-scale multi-unit apartments and single detached dwellings. Treasurer Chris Steel said that legislation would go before the Legislative Assembly this week. "We'll be making some announcements in the budget about the tax settings that apply after that to encourage new missing middle housing projects," he said. "I think the important point to make is that achieving the 30,000 new homes by 2030 will be through a combination of government land release, but also building more homes on privately-leased land. "And that is enabled through the zoning reforms like missing middle, like transit oriented development and more housing in and around shopping centres, and we'll be progressing that work in stages." But Ms Neelagama is concerned by "how much heavy lifting" the missing middle will need to do under the government's plan, and called for "urgent, structural reform to land release". "With interest rates and material costs such as they are, it will make it very difficult for mum and dad homeowners to build,"Ms Neelagama said. "We usually rely on property developers to be taking this financial risk, but we've now shifted it to ordinary homeowners." Adds Ms Edwards: "Just because blocks are available doesn't mean that they're affordable". "In some suburbs, for example Whitlam, the price of land out there has gone up 74 per cent since 2020. So a 500 square metre block of land, the average price was around about $400,000 back in 2020. Now we're looking at around $700,000 for a block," she said. "When you factor in the cost to actually purchase the land, plus the increase in the cost of building property as well, [for] a young family … it's just out of their price bracket now." The ACT budget will be handed down tomorrow.